FishingPals 2012
July 13 - July 18
The Mel Pardue Trip
Thursday
As usual, our departure to Gravenhurst falls on a Thursday --- avoiding that cottage country traffic on Friday. We're smarter than your average bear. After some fine dining at the local Boston Pizza in Gravenhurst, Fred & Peter meet up at Marc’s cottage. Eric, David & George head up after dinner. Ron & Andrew show up and everyone meets at Marc’s cottage for a few cold ones. Marc hasn’t been on the trip since 2008, so it was a good opportunity to listen to some tunes and catch up on old times.
Friday
On Sunday, May 20, 2012, the Timmins #9 fire began a little north of Gogama and began heading towards the Timmins area. The fire consumed hectares of trees and took quite awhile to get under control. Evacuation of all nearby cottages, camps, lodges, etc. was mandatory. In fact, parts of highway 144 and 101 had to be closed. Based on one of the Ministry maps, the perimeter of the fire came dangerously close to the camp. By the time we were scheduled to go fishing, the restrictions were lifted and people were allowed back into the area. Thankfully, the camp remained intact, and no damage was done from the fire. Our drive into the camp would traverse across the middle of the burn. We would see some major devastation from the fire, but what was surprising was the amount of regrowth of small ferns and plants. Mother Nature at work…
We arrived at the camp around 4 PM to be greeted by Ed, Marc & crew. For a “non-fisherman”, Marc looked like he was doing pretty good. Hopefully, he didn’t take all the walleye out of the lake. Things appeared to be in good shape, as the boys unloaded all the gear. We noticed that a new, smaller generator has been added to the power plant. Also, we noticed that a new fish cutting station had been constructed. A little station with a screened-in area with electricity made cleaning fish ideal. The mosquitoes could be held at bay while you sliced away. A real luxury…
Beds were setup and dinner was made. Tonite was ‘Souvlaki on a Pita’ with two different salads. The ‘not-so-hot’ hot tub was filled up with water, in anticipation of the hot temperatures. Good call, as the tub got more use this year than any other year… Fishing was squeezed in before nightfall, which resulted in about eight walleye. That must be a record. We met Mel...
Saturday
Saturday started off hot, hot, hot! We went out in the morning and caught a few more walleye which was added to our previous batch. Andre showed up with a new vehicle. Now we would have enough vehicles to take the entire crew off roading. Andre wanted to take a spin out to a couple of burn areas to inspect some of the damage left by the fire. A strange observation was the worms that ate through the burned trees and the amount of noise they made. We had noticed a strange sound during our rest stop on the way in to the camp, but now we knew the reason. Evidence of sawdust around the burned trees was plentiful.
Dinner was Ron’s Butter Chicken. Special mention to Marc as he was able to make the rice without a rice cooker. He did it the old-fashioned way --- with a pot. Impressive. Ed headed back to the city. We capped the night off with euchre lessons for Andre and David. Peter was fired as euchre coach.
Sunday
The day started off dark and wet. The amount of rain that came down during the night would have killed just about any fire. We decided that we would continue with our journey to Kasasway Lake, rain or shine. Mayonnaiseless sandwiches were made and a couple of dozen eggs were boiled. Throw in some pepperettes, chocolate bars, and cookies, and lunch was made. The trip into the lake was pretty smooth. Good thing Andre could drive as we had to jockey boat trailers around in pretty tight spaces.
The fishing on Kasasway Lake was good. Each boat managed to snag a few fish --- mostly bass. Peter was the champ of the day. The day started off pretty dark and cloudy, but ended up being pretty hot and sunny. Getting back to the camp to clean up sounded good. Ron’s Lemon Parmesan fish dinner was a hit. Look out Ben! You may have some competition now!
With the number of fish that had to be cleaned, Eric would give lessons in the new fish cutting station. What FishingPals trip would be complete without Eric suffering some type of laceration, or minor wound? During Eric’s tutorial, he was too busy admiring his smooth slices on the walleye fillet, when he sliced into his own thumb. Get the bactine…!! Andre headed back to the city. We rounded out the night with a short attempt at a campfire, but the mosquitoes had other ideas…
Monday
Another wet day… We took a shot at fishing in the morning, but had to race back to the camp when the heavens opened up. Deep fried fish for lunch. We spent a slow day around the camp. We jumped into the ‘not-so-hot’ hot tub. Some of the boys went exploring to the other lake, but no trout this year. David had a shot behind the wheel. Cowboy steaks for dinner. And more euchre…
Tuesday
The morning fish yielded this year’s biggun --- a 2 lb. 10 oz. walleye caught by Fred. Lunch was more deep fried fish with Pete’s chili (made by his wife). The final meal this year was Fred’s spaghetti dinner. Unlike previous years, we almost finished all the spaghetti sauce. In fact, quite a bit of the pasta was eaten also. Note: one package of noodles is not enough. As in previous years, the last day always brings us closer to the last beers. I think we brought in just enough…
Contact your nearest FishingPal for a look at this year’s DVD!
Summary by Fred & David